Mayawati ignored Bahujan movement, opines BSP founding member R K Chaudhary, now an SP MP

Lucknow: Newly elected Samajwadi Party (SP) MP R K Chaudhary, one of the founders of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), has claimed BSP chief Mayawati has been ignoring the Bahujan movement which has led to her party's rout in these Lok Sabha polls. Now, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is taking forward the Bahujan movement, demanding social equality for backward castes and disadvantaged communities, with the slogan of 'PDA' (backward, Dalit and minority), said Chaudhary, a four-time MLA and former state minister who is counted among Uttar Pradesh's prominent Dalit leaders.

In a conversation with media, Choudhary, who has been elected MP from the Mohanlalganj seat on an SP ticket, discussed among other things the BSP's falling graph and what future holds for the party founded by Kanshi Ram. According to him, the core Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh has become leaderless at the moment, but in the coming times, the SP will carry forward the flame of Bahujanism awakened by Kanshi Ram. When asked about the reasons for the BSP not being able to win even one seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections, Choudhary said, "Mayawati ji has been our leader. We respect her. But if anyone has ended Kanshi Ram ji's movement, it is Behen ji (Mayawati). Now, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has started walking on the path of taking that movement forward." Claiming that the SP a got considerable share of Dalit votes in the Lok Sabha elections, he said, "The SP this time got the core vote of the Bahujan Samaj Party without asking for it." "Somewhere, it got 50 per cent and somewhere it got 60 per cent (of the Dalit votes). This is not an ordinary thing. And in the coming times, the Samajwadi Party, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, will definitely fulfill the dream that BSP founder Kanshi Ram ignited."

The BSP, the party which has formed government in Uttar Pradesh four times, could not win a single seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Its votes share also took a massive hit of more than 10 percentage points from the 2019 elections, when it had won 10 seats, to stand at 9.39 percent. Choudhary was once a very close associate of BSP founder Kanshi Ram. He has also served as minister in all the four previous BSP governments in the state. In this Lok Sabha election, he defeated Union Minister and BJP leader Kaushal Kishore by more than 70,000 votes from the Mohanlalganj seat in the State capital.

BSP candidate Rajesh Kumar got 88,461 votes and stood third. "When Kanshi Ram was there, he was capable of running Babasaheb Ambedkar's mission, but the Bahujan Samaj was then not mentally prepared for it," Chaudhary said. "Today, this society knows about the Constitution and reservation but now there is no one to lead them. As far as the core Dalit leadership position is concerned, I think the space is vacant and whoever makes efforts will lead them," he said.

"Dalits believe in Babasaheb Ambedkar, they believed in Kanshi Ram ji as well. Now Kanshi Ram is no more, so Dalits are left feeling cheated and are wondering what to do," he said. "I think that there used to be a slogan that the one who will talk about Bahujan will rule Delhi. Now the slogan that is being raised is that the one who will talk about PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) will rule Delhi," he said, describing the SP as the current torchbearer for the community. SP President Akhilesh Yadav had given the slogan of PDA in the Lok Sabha elections and said that the SP will take forward the fight of these classes.

Chaudhary said, "Earlier, there was a slogan that Baba (Ambedkar) your mission is incomplete, Kanshi Ram will complete it. The mission is going on. Kanshi Ram ji is no more now. So now the slogan has become that Baba your mission is incomplete, we all together will complete it.' "The path that BSP founder Kanshi Ram found, that the Bahujan Samaj should be brought together to form a political force, our leader Akhilesh Yadav has taken the same path and talked about PDA. This is the society which has been looted and it remained weak and helpless for centuries. After the formation of PDA, the process of change has started. It will move forward.'

"Our target was to remove the BJP government from power at the Centre, but it did not happen. But we have succeeded in giving a blow to the BJP. Earlier, there used to be a strong BJP government at the centre, but now there is a weak government. Sooner or later, within six months, this government will fall and the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) coalition government will be formed," he said. When asked about the BJP not getting the expected success in Uttar Pradesh in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the former minister said, "The BJP does only Hindu-Muslim politics in the country. The BJP has had to bear the brunt of this politics in this election. If they do not stop this, they will have to suffer more."